secretlyt's e of the most egregious abuses of government power. >> none of us have ever seen anything like this. >> is this a police state or what? >> this should send a chill up your spine. >> chilling. >> chilling. >> it's chilling. which also describes the champagne i've been waiting to break out for just this scandal. >> this sounds like a president somewhat drunk on power. >> if irs personnel were intentionally targeting conservative groups, they have to be held fully accountable. >> this was a targeting of the president's political enemies. >> the president starts to lose control of the agenda? can't govern. >> everything i've ever said about obama is true. >> i'm going to do everything i can over the next 3 1/2 years. >> he's a secret muslim shape shifting alien from kenya who is coming for our guns. >> continue to reach out to my republican friends on the other side of the aisle, because i sure want to do some governing.

good afternoon. we begin with a rough 72 hours for the white house. with a confluence of three apparent scandals now swirling around the administration. already under siege over the benghazi and irs stories, the administration now faces a fresh round of scrutiny. this time with questions about the freedom of the press. the "associated press" disclosed late monday the justice department secretly obtained records on more than 20 separate phone lines used by its reporters and editors last spring. timing suggests the covert investigation was to determine who leaked details about a cia operation in yemen which foiled a terrorist plot. and while people like rnc chairman reince priebus suddenly emerge from hiding to call for the attorney general's head on a platter, holder, himself, said today he recused himself from the decision to seek those media records to avoid any conflict of

interest. but that he did support the investigation into a dangerous leak. >> it is the top two or three most serious leaks that i've ever seen. it put the american people at risk, and that is not hyperbole. it put the american people at risk. and trying to determine who's responsible for that, i think, required very aggressive action. >> and as mr. holder prepares to be grilled by the house judiciary committee wednesday, it's worth noting this whole investigation was called for by members of congress such as senator john mccain. >> i call on the president to take immediate and decisive action, including the appointment of a special council, to aggressively investigate the leak of any classified information on which the recent stories were based and where appropriate to prosecute those responsible. >> indeed. dozens of republicans called for

an investigation into leaks, but they said it spun out of control. 31 of them sending a letter to that effect to the attorney general last summer. don't worry, they'll do their best shock and outrage on this story, too. after all, the gathering of phone records without journalists' knowledge or permission does not and should not sit well with anyone in a free society. white house spokesman jay carney said the president is a firm believer in the first amendment, but that this case rests, appropriately, with the justice department. >> the president is a strong defender of the first amendment, and a firm believer in the need for the press to be unfettered. he also, of course, recognizes the need for the justice department to investigate alleged criminal activity without undo influence. >> meanwhile, with scandal grabbing the headlines, the president last night expressed his frustration at a fund-raiser in manhattan. >> i sure want to do some governing. i want to get some stuff done. i don't have a lot of time.

i've got 3 1/2 years left and it goes by like that. >> the president will continue his efforts at that governing this hour, meeting with defense secretary chuck hagel. joining us now from capitol hill is congressman steny hoyer, democrat of maryland, and the house minority whip. good afternoon, sir. >> good to be with you. >> you hold a senior position within the democratic caucus. is it your view that the white house is now drowning in a sea of scandal, as your political opponents are suggesting? >> no. absolutely not. certainly not a sea of scandal. while i think the president was correct as it relates to the irs, it's outrageous the allegations of what was done, and if that practice was followed, i know it's been said to have been stopped, but i share the president's concern and the concern of all americans that irs would target anybody because of political affiliation or name of an organization. they need to deal with facts and they need to deal with those facts fairly and across the

board and treat all taxpayers and applicants the same. >> and so you're satisfied, sir, that the president or his administration played no role in encouraging the irs to target these specific conservative organizations? >> i have absolutely no reason to believe, nor have i seen any reports, that the administration was involved in this, that it was a determination within the irs as to how to try to deal with a flood of applications for tax exemption. i think they acted improperly in this instance, but i don't think the administration had anything to do with this. i have no reason to believe the that that was the case. >> the president is trying to get on with governing. he's meeting this hour with secretary hagel, as you know, facing a full plate of concerns including plans today to furlough some 630,000 civilian defense workers. make them take unpaid days off through the rest of the year. and that, of course, is thanks to the sequester.

and, yet, sir, i cannot hear a single person on the other side of the aisle, today, expressing any concern with that. >> yeah, that's the real scandal that what we're doing is diverting our attention -- obviously, i think these manners have to be dealt with, but we're diverting our attention from the total failure of the republicans in the house of representatives to deal with substance in this congress and very frankly in the last congress. the sequestration is an irrational, stupid policy that's having an adverse effect on our economy and on our national security. i think the layoffs, the furloughs that you referred to, are not only bad for the individuals involved, but much more broadly than that in bad from the standpoint of our national security. we tried on a number of occasions, on four specific occasions, to offer amendments which would get to the same savings, the same debt

reduction, over the next year, but do so in a way that would not require a sequester. would not require irrational cuts to high priority and low priority in the same percentage. unfortunately, the republican leadership in the house of representatives would not allow us to offer those amendments. would not allow them to be considered by the representatives of the american people. as a result, we're confronted with, as i said, this irrational process which is bad for our economy and bad for our national security. in addition, it puts at risk 70,000 children being kicked off -- >> oh, yes. >> -- head start. >> oh, yes. absolutely. >> 4 million seniors -- >> 4 million seniors won't get food. >> losing meals on wheels. >> absolutely. so while republicans decry inadequate security in benghazi, while 1/3 of house committees investigate the white house, they're absolutely silent on hits to military personnel that lockheed martin says will delay

their f-35 joint strike fighter and other weapons programs, to say nothing of the social programs you just referred to? absolute silence. absolute silence. >> the reason for that, in my opinion, is the positions that they take on those issues are not positions the american public supports. and, therefore, they try to distract the attention by these tans gentle issues they keep raising. we've had nothing about job creation over the last five months that we've been in congress. and nothing about how we're going to go from the sequester, which everybody, including every republican leader, believes is an irrational process. but unfortunately, a large number of their caucus want to slash government funding no matter what the impact of slashing that funding is. so that it's very, very unfortunate that we are spending so much time and trying to undermine the president of the united states.

it's a continuation of the first four years of this administration where it was all opposition, confrontation, and undermining of the president's ability to build the economy and make america a better place. it's really sad, and then the american public ought to be outraged about that. >> do you think -- >> which is not to say -- go ahead, martin. >> do you think, sir, we should just write off the two terms of this president, then? that we should simply accept that these -- that the house, itself, is absolutely delighted through individuals like darrell issa, to pursue endless hearings on things like benghazi? significant. four people killed including an ambassador. nobody is underestimating the validity of inquiries into is that matter. but are we saying that the next 3 1/2 years are largely going to be pointless from the point of view of governing? >> hopefully we're not saying that, number one. number two, it won't be the president that loses. it will be our country that loses.

it will be our kids -- >> right. >> -- that don't get the kind of education they needed. it will be the seniors who aren't taken care of the way we want them taken care of. be the veterans who don't get the attention that they need. that's who's going to lose when you create this confrontation and a refusal to compromise. we had an election. that election was pretty, pretty dispositive of the issue that the american people wanted president obama to continue as president, and the policies that he was supporting were clearly enuncia enunciated. mr. romney enunciated an alternative strategy and policy, and the american people voted. and, frankly, it's time to put politics behind us. partisanship behind us. confrontation behind us. and come together as a congress, republicans and democrats, and reach compromises that will move us forward. nobody will think they're perfect, but that's our responsibility. >> but, sir, what's extraordinary from our point of view is mitt romney fought over

the issue of benghazi, and that continues to dominate. mitt romney fought over never raising taxes, and that continues. you say the election was fought in november. it feels as though the election is carrying on, that that fight, regardless of the issue, it's almost as if every single subject continues now. >> it feels like that because that's what's happening. it's as if the election didn't occur. it's continued partisan politics and continued politics of destruction, if you will. and what i think my republican friends don't realize is, the people who are being hurt, it's not the administration. it is the american people that we just discussed. very unfortunate, but you say for 3 1/2 years. frankly, we're going to have another election in just about 18 months, and the american people will have another opportunity to say, no, we don't want this confrontation, we don't want this gridlock, we

don't want constant opposition. we want positive cooperation for our country. i frankly think if the republicans continue along the path that they've been pursuing for the last five months, hopefully the american people will tell them a year from this november that's not what we wanted, that's not what we think is good for our country, and very frankly, we're going to put new people in charge of the house of representatives. >> congressman steny hoyer, sir, thank you for joining us this afternoon. >> thank you, martin, very much. >> thank you, sir. next, they say bad things happen in threes. so let's just slow down and take this one step at a time. [ ice freezing ] [ wind howling ] [ engine revving ] ♪ [ electricity crackling ]

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the attorney general has just announced that he's ordered the justice department and the fbi to investigate whether irs officials broke any criminal laws by singling out conservative groups for special scrutiny. the heart of this scandal involves something called a 501c4 commonly referred to as a social welfare organization. they allow a group to raise unlimited amounts of money without reporting donors. and while some lobbying is allowed, political activities cannot be its primary function. nor may it participate directly or indirectly in political campaigns. unfortunately, policing that is easier said than done. the irs had been trying to do that during the 2012 campaign, but the agency seems to have focused on smaller tea party and conservative groups to the exclusion of others. and as the attorney general pointed out this afternoon, policing one political view over another should anger everyone.

>> the fbi is coordinating with the justice department to see if any laws were broken in connection with those matters related to the irs. those were, i think, as everyone can agree, if not criminal, they were certainly outrageous and unacceptable. >> and joining us now is goldie taylor, an msnbc contributor, and joy reid, who's the managing editor of the grios.com. a delight to have you both. i want to start with you, joy. you would agree, would you not, that focusing on one particular political position would be wrong? >> of course. >> has this ever happened before? >> as a matter of fact, it has, martin. >> isn't that a surprise? >> yeah, isn't that a surprise. >> tell us. >> there is a history of the irs sort of being used against political opponents. richard nixon obviously did it. back during the george w. bush administration, there was a fixation and focus on one particular group, and request to have their status as a 501c3, a charitable organization, reviewed. that would be the naacp. >> the naacp. >> the naacp.

what happened, julian bond criticized president bush. was critical of him in part for not attending the naacp conference. >> didn't he actually say the thing most americans wanted were our troops to be in this country rather in a war that was sold to us on bogus intelligence? >> he was critical on the war in iraq. all of a sudden the naacp gets a letter from the irs stating julian bond's statements, they specifically referred to his statements against the war and for the president, were a reason why there was going to be an audit. when the irs has been used politicalry, it hasn't been reviewing the status of a 501c4, it's been an audit. the naacp was audited for not one year, but two solid years. they didn't get out from under it until 2006. one other thing i'll mention, as part of the documents that had to be turned over to the naacm f to defend themselves, it turns out going back as far as 2000, members of congress, including

susan collins who's been outraged about what's happening with the tea party, she was one of several members of congress, lamar alexander did it, strom thurmond did it, who were demanding the naacp c3 status be reviewed. it was called into question whether it was appropriate for the speak court to decide the election. right before the 2004 election, both of those instances, the irs went after the naacp. >> remind me of a republican who was outraged by that reaction. >> i would if there was one. >> thank you so much. excellent. goldie. i'd like to play you something that senate majority leader harry reid said a short time ago. he's talking about social welfare organizations and the amount of money that was spent last year. take a listen to this. >> it's said to be almost $1 billion, and i ask, what has karl rove ever done to improve the social welfare of the united states? >> could you answer that question? what has karl rove done to improve the social welfare of

the united states? >> hmm. wait. nothing. you know, at the end of the day, the tea party movement was an astroturf movement that moved from state to state, city to city. they were built on the same social and financial model so there was a template going around. how do you raise a tea party movement in your community? and so when you investigate one, because they've stepped over the line, they have endorsed candidates, they have gotten involved in outright political speech rather than simply public education. when you investigate one, then it opens up all others because they followed the same model. you know, i'm not saying that the irs can't be overly intrusive. i've been subject to audit, myself. they certainly can be. but to this selective outrage, please miss me with that. you know, at the end of the day when you look at the tea party and you look at what, you know, people like karl rove did, the very united states that they wanted to take back, they did want want to share their hard-earned dollars with.

they were using these tax shelters to shield themselves and their donors from being open about who they were, how they were spending their money, and not being taxed on those dollars. and i think that is a real, you know, piece of hypocrisy here. >> you know, just to build on what goldie was saying, martin, back in 2004 i worked in campaign politics. anybody who's been in campaign politics is familiar with the old 527 model which is the way a lot of democrats worked in the 2004 election. there was such a strict fear of the irs coming after you for coordinating that i remember leaving starbucks coffee houses because there was a john kerry campaign staffer just in the same building. that's how strict it was. when you look at what happened after citizens united, after 2010, people shifted to this 501c4 model which the irs has not policed. closeroads gps is one of them. americans for prosperity. the koch-brother funded outlets. these are not social welfare organizations and to the point goldie was making, the new hampshire tea party coalition

put out a blog post the other day in which they called this out. said, you know what, astroturf groups, republican consultants who are springing up, tea party organizations all over the country, that were phony, that weren't really part of the tea party grassroots movement but which were ways for these guys to raise money. you do draw a salary when you're the head of a pac. they were saying they brought that on themselves by springing up astroturf versions of the tea party all over the country. that's from a tea party coalition, themselves. >> indeed it is. goldie taylor, joy reid. i wish we had more time. thank you so much. next, you can still feel the heat from this afternoon's briefing. we'll take you live to the white house, next. [ male announcer ] research suggests cell health

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about overactive bladder symptoms. [ female announcer ] know that gotta go feeling? ask your doctor about prescription toviaz. one toviaz pill a day significantly reduces sudden urges and accidents, for 24 hours. if you have certain stomach problems or glaucoma, or can not empty your bladder, you should not take toviaz. get emergency medical help right away if your face, lips, throat or tongue swells. toviaz can cause blurred vision, dizziness, drowsiness and decreased sweating. do not drive, operate machinery or do unsafe tasks until you know how toviaz affects you. the most common side effects are dry mouth and constipation. talk to your doctor about toviaz. with scandals popping up across washington, the white house stands front and center on this very busy news day. joining us now from the white house to help sort it out, nbc's peter alexander. pete, jay carney was repeatedly

asked if the white house was feeling under siege. it was pretty hot in that briefing robrief ing room, wasn't it? >> reporter: this is one we'd been expecting was going to be like that. jay carney made clear today the president is committed to the unfettered scrutiny that the media provides, and today the media provided a lot of that scrutiny of jay carney, himself, and this administration. about an hour's worth. another former press secretary, ari fleischer, as we sat down, tweeted out some of his thoughts on what jay carney needed to do. he said he needs to duck, dodge, dance and defer. that's pretty much what carney had to do today. he said on each of these investigations that the white house was in no position to really say anything as they wait for those investigations to be completed. he also added the fact that he had to deflect a lot of these questions until there are further evidence that he could respond to more specifically. you know, this white house has had really sort of a charm offensive of sorts today, reaching out to individual

reporters, trying to call them. they feel confidently this storm will pass. trying to focus on their agenda. jay carney today referenced the economy and issues of that sort. when you consider the last several days of, i guess, a storm in washington right now, it was over those several days he had an event on obama care for women. he had an event on guns with some of the top cops here this weekend. and even david cameron, the prime minister of england was here with the focus being syria. none of those three stories made headlines anywhere. >> indeed. nbc's peter alexander in the belly of the beast. thanks, pete. stay with us. the day's top lines are straight ahead. >> it's chilling, which also describes the champagne i've been waiting to break out for just this scandal. so it's official. he's a secret muslim shape shifting alien from kenya who's coming for our guns and bo is a member of the iluminoti. [ male announcer ] snap out of your snack routine

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from conspiracy theories, to scandals galore. here are today's top lines. don't spike the football. >> one story after another after another. what are the boundaries of this administration? >> you got benghazi. >> there was at the time strong evidence the video had nothing to do with the attack. >> susan rice went on the sunday shows and for political reasons was not completely accurate about something in the middle east. >> what would happen if it was the bush administration that excised cia talking points? >> you would never see a republican do something like that. >> you got the irs scandal. >> is that a quarter? >> thank you, i'm not good at math. >> oh, it's a good one. lady who works at the place that calculates people's taxes. >> this sounds to me like an enemy's list. >> it was an enemy's list, but it only had one enemy on it, conservatives. >> that was wrong. the irs would like to apologize.

>> i didn't realize apologies were sufficient in irs-related issues. >> this elevates the story to almost watergate status. >> if, in fact, irs personnel were intentionally targeting conservative groups, then that's outrageous. >> if the president really is outraged by this, someone should lose their job. >> what we don't know is whether it jumped the fence from the irs to the white house. >> one of the most egregious abuses of government power that i can think of. >> there is no doubt that saddam hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. >> the "atp" is accusing the obama administration of spying on its reporters. >> using a secret subpoena to obtain two months of phone records from the "associated press'" reporters. >> freedom of the press is under attack. >> these two stories sound nixonian. >> irs story, the benghazi story, the boston bombings, the muslim brotherhood cover-up. they're all connected. >> conspiracy theorists who generally can survive in

anarobic environments just had an algae bloom dropped on their [ bleep ] heads. >> let's get to our panel. betsy woodrough of "the national review" and ryan grim is the washington bureau chief of the "huffington post." thank you, both, for joining us. ryan, if i can start with you, some conservatives appear to be getting ahead of themselves on these latest scandals. michele bachmann, for instance, tells the parogin of journalism where you'd never be employed, "world net daily," the following. "once again it appears the obama administration is blatantly lying to the american people. people can right ask questions about the credibility of the elections." in reality, ryan, was it mitt romney who got 71% of the hispanic vote? >> well, i mean, if you were watching the unskewed polls, that website that was popular up until it completely blew the election, then, sure, you probably think that the election was stolen. you know, if you surround

yourself with people who repeat the same things that you do, you know, if you've seen nothing but benghazi in your twitter feed for the last six months, you probably need to start following a few more people because it's going to lead you to conclusions like bachmann's that there's no way obama could have won because everybody i know voted for mitt romn romney. that kind of thing is, you know, is going to trap somebody like bachmann. >> okay. betsy, rand paul has tied several of the scandals neatly together for us. very helpfully. take a listen. >> he's using the power of government to investigate his ene enemies. he's tapping the phones of the press. and it turns out last year he signed legislation that allows him to detain an american without a trial and send them to guantanamo bay. this sounds like a president somewhat drunk on power. >> betsy, what do you think? drunk on power? >> yeah, probably not the most elegant way of communicating. i think what rand paul is getting at here is perhaps there is a significant branding issue for democrats. we're talking about the fact

that all these issues are coming out all at once. drunk on power is maybe not the most effective language to use there, but i think he's getting at something that's valid. >> okay. ryan, vice president cheney claims the administration lied about the intelligence on benghazi. take a listen to this. >> they start out with the truth, as reported by the intelligence community, and then you turn it into a total distortion, once the political types and the white house and some senior folks at the state department get their hands on it. >> ryan, i swear that could have been the audio version of dick cheney's autobiography. >> i mean, what do you even do with something like that? i mean -- >> you heard it. >> this is the least self-aware politician that -- i just don't even know what to say about a guy like this. does he have no sense of what his legacy is with the iraq war? does he have no -- i mean, if he

has a double-digit approval rating, even at this point, i would be surprised by that. for dick cheney to go out and lecture people about how political operatives can manipulate intelligence to deceive the public, i mean, it just -- it leaves me speechless. i don't know what to say to a guy like that. >> okay. thank you for your speechlessness, ryan. >> i'm sorry. >> betsy, do you have a reaction to the great dick cheney's comments there, which as i said did sound as though they'd come from his audio version of his own autobiography? >> you know, i think it's a swing and a miss. >> okay. well, these issues, as you know, should do wonders for gop fund-raisinge esfforts. everyone's charging around loving it. once 2014 comes around, betsy, do you think the issues will be much as they always are as elections, jobs and the economy? >> it's difficult. i mean, jobs and economy are going to be the primary thing we'll be talking about in 2014, but at the same time when you

have a president who ran on being sort of this paragon of virtue and transparency and openness, when you have these many issues coming all to a head as we're starting to think about the 2014 elections, that's something that might be challenging for congressional democrats to dog. >> ryan, let me read to you one of these grand hubert conspiracies. a tweet from marco rubio this afternoon. "remember the same irs that targeted conservative groups will be the one enforcing the obama care disaster with fines." i should also point out, by the way, the irs still refuses to tell america what it knows about benghazi as well. don't tell me you're speechless again, ryan. >> i mean, look, the irs, you know, in 2007, you know, the irs had gone after a bunch of liberal groups. now it's 2009, 2010, started going after a bunch of conservative groups.

nobody likes the irs. it's the meanest, it's the cruelest agency out there. nobody wants to get a letter from them. so you're not going to have anybody coming to their defense. so, you know, it will have a blowback in a couple of ways. one is, right, it is going to be tougher for the irs to implement elements of health care reform. also, it's groups like priorities usa, the koch brothers, crossroads. those are the ones that are really celebrating because they were in carl levin's crosshairs. he was launching a two-year investigation into how the irs has just let them behave however they wanted in the political sphere and conceal their donors and do all sorts of activity that didn't seem to be allowed by their quote/unquote social welfare legal designation. now forget about that. you know, nobody's going to have the political will to go after these groups when the irs so mishandled it by going after these little guys. >> absolutely. >> so the little guys took the

brunt of it. the big guys are going to get away. >> i think even from where i'm sitting now, i can hear karl rove shipping champagne. betsy woodruff, ryan fwrgrim. thank you so much. next, marco rubio and the gang of eight may believe in compromise. the gop within the gop on immigration, that remains a mile wide. stay with us. if it was somehow there was an offer that said you're going to get one or the other and you have to choose one, i would take obama care and try to live with that before i'd ever accept this amnesty plan. because the amnesty plan is far, far worse than obama care. ♪ [ female announcer ] from more efficient payments. ♪ to more efficient pick-ups. ♪ wireless is limitless. i'm on expert on softball.

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king of iowa is still struggling to understand why the notion of self-deportation didn't work so well for mitt romney's presidential campaign. what is clear, however, is that more than 71% of latino voters were not enamored by mr. romney's approach to the complex issue of immigration. joining us now is lily gilvaletta, founder of the xl alliance. given the gang of eight on immigration is -- this bill is working its way through the senate judiciary committee today, are you surprised that republicans like steve king still seem confused that referring to such a large swath of the population, encouraging them to self-deport, they might find that offensive? >> i'm going to give it a cute name. it's a case of the brown elephant. big and obvious sitting in the middle of the room. you are still dancing around it. that's what's happening with the hispanic population. the fastest growing segment of voters, of population in general in this country that unless you embrace it, you're going to lose

and lose big because of changing demographics called for that as the majority/minority that is taking over. >> okay. today's press conference also seemed confused about how immigrants might vote in the future. first, let's listen to representative louie gohmert who embraced latinos as potential republicans. >> once people shave done research and see which party stands for what and see which party is more pro-life and more pro-family and embraces a faith in god, that they'll become republicans. i have very great confidence that a majority will. >> okay. however, his colleague, representative steve king, seemed to believe that they all vote for the democrats. >> that was a message which is, we're going to recruit all you folks that we're going to give amnesty to to become democrats. they know that. they learned that. they're in the process of establishing another monolithic voting bloc and spent tens of

millions calling republicans racist. >> see, i'm confused. was this a press conference to retract or repel hispanic vote? >> that case shows the fragmentation within the republican party. >> at the same press conference. >> exactly. i've had actually the chance to talk to congressman gohmert before, and he does appreciate the common values we share with the conservative very catholic base of hispanics. rubio has said this. you cannot support a party that's going to deport you. it is just a conflicting message of we are conservative and passionate which is great, check on that. but at the same time, we don't want to grant you amnesty and everyone go home. it just does not make sense. one common message needs to be aligned somehow. >> okay. now, you know we have this report from the heritage foundation last week. >> oh, yes. >> on immigration. i don't know how, but you somehow managed to buy a degree from harvard, yourself, because you clearly didn't learn it, you

didn't earn it. that report has prompted the head of the republican party's latino outreach effort in florida -- there he is -- to leave the republican party and become a democrat. is that surprising to you? >> well, you know what, in his words, enough is enough for him. when he was trying to support a party that maybe represented those conservative values we were talking about, but when there is an ignorant comment that now ties it into racism and assuming that race is is an issue for i.q., it takes you over the top. there was a lot of buzz in social media and a lot of us were very tempted to send our harvard dip ploalomas to the heritage foundation for cross referencing. >> the co-author of the unscientific study had to give up his job, as you know, mr. richwine. that didn't stop congressman steve king from going out there today and citing that study. so, again, today -- >> it's denial. >> -- he's reaching out but citing a study that suggests you and your child -- i know you've

had a child recently -- have an indod indodgenous intour yourty of i.q. that you'll never be able to resolve. >> if that's what's happening, guess what, the future of america looks that way because the kids that are growing fastest happen to be the brown kids. african-american. latinos. that is the future of america. those are the college enrollment numbers that are actually beating in double digits the other groups. so there is hope. it's ignorant. it's narrow minded and even our fellows from harvard are embarrassed to say this came out and got tied into the school because certainly doesn't represent the way we study the true trends. >> absolutely true. lili gil valletta, thank you so much. coming up, political point scoring at a fever pitch. what about jobs and the economy? we'll ask one house republican. stay with us. did you know more coffee drinkers

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according to one reckoning, five house committees have conducted their own inquiries into the tragic events at the u.s. diplomatic post in benghazi. there's been a state department accountability review board chaired by admiral mike mullen and ambassador thomas pickering. there have also been hearings before the senate committee on foreign relations where former secretary of state hillary clinton was cross examined. and yesterday, the president, himself, appeared a little exasperated by the republicans' focus on benghazi. >> there are still diplomats around the world who are in very dangerous, difficult situations and we don't have time to be playing these kinds of political games here in washington. we should be focused on what are we doing to protect them? >> joining us now, representative tom cole of oklahoma who is calling for a special committee to further investigate these attacks. good afternoon, sir. >> great to be with you.

>> thank you. so why do you feel, if i might ask you this, that we would benefit from yet another committee inquiry into benghazi? >> well i actually think part of the problem is this spreads across so many jurisdictions that they were sort of hearing a bable of voices here, if you will. one single committee i think would probably help clarify the issue, give everybody an opportunity to ask whatever questions they wanted to, and frankly bring this to a much more timely conclusion so that we can get on, as the president suggested, with making some badly needed changes and understanding what happened and trying to make sure it doesn't happen again. >> do you have any sympathies, sir, with those who say that under president bush, there were 64 attacks on diplomatic targets, some of them deadly, and that benghazi now has nothing to do with the deaths of those four staffers -- sorry -- what i meant to say was -- do you have any sympathy with those

who say that during the bush administration there were 64 attacks on american diplomatic targets and three hearings? over ten individuals were killed, but we've already had how many hearings on benghazi? >> well, i couldn't give you a precise number. >> no, i think it's hard to count, isn't it, sir? >> no, i think there have been quite a few, and i don't think all the questions have been answered yet. i suppose, martin, i look at this in three ways. first of all, there's no question from what we know, there was a great deal of clay s complain sensy. we had warnings coming up through the chain of command. those didn't make it to secretary clinton's desk which is shocking to me. it does tell me something was very, very wrong that warnings this seriously that were this repeated, you knows, never made it to the ultimate decision-makers in term of state department's decisions for deposition. so we should have done that. >> okay. >> go ahead. >> can i interrupt?

your fellow oklahoman senator james inhofe has offered this view. i'd wonder if you'd take a listen, sir. >> of all the great cover-ups in history, we're talking about the pentagon papers, the iran/contra, watergate, all rest of them, this i said back on november 28th on fox, is going to go down as the most serious, most egregious cover-up in american history. people may be starting to use the "i" word before too long. >> oh, okay. the "i" word meaning impeachment? >> yeah. >> now, he certainly sounds like he'd like to impeach the president. do you agree with him, sir? >> no. i have a lot of respect for senator inhofe, and we agree on most issues, but frankly, i don't think this -- it's serious. four americans are dead. >> nobody's disputing -- >> if you'll let me finish my point, i don't think this is the equivalent of watergate or iran/contra.

there's a difference when somebody in the white house is ordering these things. this isn't something someone ordered or intended. if you read the pickering/mullens report, which is i think interesting, but not quite complete, you know, they say nobody deliberately planned this. of course nobody deliberately planned on outcome where four americans were killed. but what happened? you know, that we reached this point, that warnings were ignored. i think, again, their report moves some way toward answering those questions, but it's not complete and we have a ways to go. >> okay. for the last five years, as you know, the house has earned its reputation as the do-nothing congress. even when 20 children are murdered in school, we can't pass gun safety legislation. we can't get a vote on the american jobs act. sequestration occurs because there's a refusal to do anything on the budget. but on benghazi, congress suddenly finds its legs and cannot hold enough hearings. >> i simply don't agree with your characterization. look, i'm surprised you would use that because that would include, by the way, a

democratic congress that passed the health care bill that did dodd/frank and did the stimulus. >> sure. >> i don't think you would say that was do-nothing. we might disagree whether they were good idea, but they did a lot. if you look at the last few months in this congress, the fiscal cliff deal, solved, hurricane sandy relief, done. violence against women act passed. those were all things i voted for and worked across the aisle on. so, again, this idea of congress never does anything, actually it does white a bit. but i think this rises to a very serious level. not just because of the deaths. look, this happened on 9/11. we should have anticipated there were going to be difficulties. we clearly didn't -- we have a lot of military assets across the mediterranean and we couldn't get any of them in position to do anything over many, many hours. that suggests to me we weren't appropriately prepared for something that we knew, particularly given the region's, you know, being as inflamed as it is right now, you know, that there was a good chance something might happen. so, again, a lot of questions to

answer. i don't think the administration was forthcoming in the initial days after benghazi at all. >> congressman -- >> simply, you know, did not, you know, lay out the facts that they knew in a timely fashion. >> congressman tom cole. i'm afraid we've run out of time. thank you for joining us, and i hope we'll have you back soon. can i get the smith contract, please? thank you. that's three new paper shredders. [ boris ] put 'em on my spark card. [ garth ] boris' small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase every day. great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. read back the chicken's testimony, please. "buk, buk, bukka!" [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. choose 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase every day. told you i'd get half. what's in your wallet?

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our seafood dinner for two for just 25 dollars! first get salad and cheddar bay biscuits. then choose from a variety of seafood entrées. plus choose either an appetizer or a dessert to share. offer ends soon at red lobster! where we sea food differently. thanks for watching. "hardball" starts right now. storm front. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. there's a reason the president's an'sy target tonight. he's a ship with the engine off. he can go play golf, take marine one up to manhattan. none of that matters. none of it. what matters is he commands no big cause. there's no thrust to his presidency right now. as i